Patrick Le Galès

CNRS Research Professor of Sociology and Politics
Professor at Sciences Po, Fellow of the British Academy (FBA)

Patrick Le Galès is CNRS (National Scientific Research Centre) Research Professor of Sociology, Politics and urban studies at Sciences Po, Centre for European Studies and Comparative Politics. He was the founding Dean of Sciences Po Urban School (2015-2022) where he still teaches, and is involved in the “ Cities are back in town ” and “restructuring the state” research groups. He is a corresponding Fellow of the british Academy , a member of the Academia Europea, a co-editor of the European Journal of Sociology/Archives européennes de sociologie and member of the CNRS Scientific Council . Prior to this he was the editor of the International Journal of Urban and regional Research , the president of SASE (Society for Advanced Socio economics), a former trustee of the Foundation for Urban and Regional Research, a member of ERC panels, a founding member of the MAXPO centre (Max Planck Society/Sciences Po). He was educated at Sciences Po, Paris, Nuffield College Oxford (M.litt.) and the University of Paris X Nanterre .

In the autunm 2022 he is a visiting scholar at the Institute of Public Knowledge at New York University. In 2023 he will be Dr. Kennedy Wong Distinguished Visiting Professor at Hong Kong Baptist University, Department of Government and International Studies and then visiting professor at Hong Kong University at the Department of Urban Planning. In the Spring he will be a visiting professor at Waseda University in Tokyo.

He received the GRALE CNRS (local politics) prize for the best thesis in 1991, the CNRS bronze medal in 1996 (excellence prize for young research assistant professor in CNRS), the Stein Rokkan prize in 2002 for comparative research in Europe (International Social Science Council and ECPR) for his book European cities, social conflicts and governance , the Il Mulino/Bolognamondo prize for the Italian version of the book. He got the Award of Excellence for research in political science from the Mattei Dogan / French Political Science Association Foundation in 2007, the Regional Studies Association Best Paper Award 2017, for the journal Territory, Politics, Governance, for the paper "Neoliberalism and Urban Change: Stretching a Good Idea Too Far?" . In 2018 he was awarded the prestigious CNRS silver Medal for research.

His researches mostly deals with : 1) Comparative Public policy, policy instruments and the political sociology of the state, digital cities; 2)Urban sociology/urban political economy in large metropolis and also European cities (middle classes, governance, urban conflicts, mobility, economic development, inequalities ; 3)Economic sociology/political economy – the making of a market society and the sociology of Europe with a special interest for the UK and the financialisation of housing and real estate.

He is currently working on a project comparing modes of governance (What is governed and not governed?) and urban development in Paris, London, Sao Paolo, Mexico. He has just completed a comparative research project on financialization and housing in Paris, London and Amsterdam (with Mike Raco and Tuna Tasan Kok) He is currently editing a book on the governance of Paris as organised anarchy with Francesca Artioli. With Desmond King he works on the reconfiguration of European states. With Philippe Bezes he is developing the concept of the policy state.

He published or edited Regions in Europe the paradox of power (ed. with C. Lequesne, Routledge, 1997), Politiques urbaines et développement local en France et UK (L’Harmattan, 1993); Les réseaux de politique publique (ed. with M. Thatcher, Paris, L’Harmattan 1995); Cities in contemporary Europe (ed. with A. Bagnasco), CUP 2000, ; Local industrial systems in Europe, rise or demise ? (with C.Crouch and al., OUP, 2002); The changing governance of local economies in Europe (with C. Crouch and al. OUP, 2004); European Cities, social conflicts and governance (OUP, 2002), Developments in French Politics 3 and 4 (eds with J. Levy and A. Cole, Palgrave, 2005, 2008); Gouverner par les instruments (with P. Lascoumes Presses de Sciences Po 2004); Sociologie de l’action publique (with P. Lascoumes Colin, 2008, second edition 2012, The New Labour experiment (with Florence Faucher King, Standford University Press 2010). Globalising minds, roots in the cities, upper middle classes in EUrope? (with Alberta Andreotti and Javier Moreno Fuentes) Wiley/ Blackwell in 2015; Ugalde, Vincente, Le Galès, Patrick, dir., 2017, Reconfigurating european states in crisis (ed. with Desmond King, OUP, 2017) Gobernando la ciudad de méxico. Lo que se gobierna y lo que no se gobierna en una gran metrópoli , Mexico , Colejio de Mexico ; Gouverner la ville numérique, Courmont, Antoine and Le Galès Patrick (dir.), PUF, 2019. Gouverner la métropole parisienne. État, conflits, institutions, réseaux . Paris, Presses de Sciences Po. 2020.The Handbook of comparative global urban studies with J.Robinson) will appear with Routlege in 2023